April 2012
Feature - AU On-Demand Bundles
AU Classes in April
April Events
Portable Scanner Update
iPad 2 Speech Recognition
Word Tip of the Month - View Different Parts of Document at Same Time
Affinity Receives Amicus Attorney Honor
Steve Best Speaks at LexThink.1
Managed IT Services
Green Corner - Fluorescent Lamp Savings
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Feature Article: Affinity University On-Demand Course Bundles
Jennifer M. Ramovs, Esq., Director of Education.Jennifer Ramovs, Esq.

This month, Affinity University is proud to announce On-Demand Course Bundles for our most popular courses. On-Demand courses are the perfect training option for busy legal professionals. With the flexibility to watch the courses at your convenience, and unlimited access for 12 months, we make training simple.

 

While individual On-Demand courses are regularly priced at $119 per course, Bundles save you 25% or more on each course. As the number of courses in the bundle increases, so do the savings. Current Bundles Include:

 

Microsoft Office - $399

Microsoft Excel Basics

Microsoft Word Basics

Microsoft Word - Introduction to Styles

Microsoft Outlook - Email Management

Microsoft outlook - Contacts and Calendar

Microsoft PowerPoint for Legal Professionals

 

Microsoft Word - $169

Microsoft Word Basics

Microsoft Word - Introduction to Styles

 

Microsoft Outlook - $169

Microsoft Outlook - Email Management

Microsoft outlook - Contacts and Calendar

 

Amicus Attorney Premium Edition - $169

Amicus Attorney Premium Edition Basic Tips and Tricks

Amicus Attorney Premium Edition Productivity, Profitability

 

Amicus Attorney Small Firm Edition - $239

Amicus Attorney Small Firm Edition Basic Tips and Tricks

Amicus Attorney Small Firm Edition - Files

Amicus Attorney Small Firm Edition - Contacts and Calendar

 

PracticeMaster - $239

PracticeMaster Tips and Tricks

PracticeMaster Contacts and Calendar

PracticeMaster Clients and Matters

 

Tabs3 - $239

Tabs3 - Billing

Tabs3 - Tips and Tricks

Tabs3 - Reporting

 

Coming Soon!  Worldox Basics and Worldox Advanced Bundle - $169

Affinity University - Classes in April   Affinity University Logo

 

Affinity University is the go-to resource for online training on the legal software you and your team use every day. Focusing specifically on real world tips and tricks, our certified experts provide training on popular Practice Management, Time/Billing/Accounting, Document Management, Productivity Software and even Microsoft Office.  If you "attend" a live AU webinar, you can watch it again within 30 days of the original live date at no additional charge.  

 

Click here for the complete Affinity University Live Webinar Schedule.

 

In addition to our live AU classes, all classes are available "on-demand" for viewing individually as your schedule permits.  Starting this month, many of our most popular AU classes are available for on-demand viewing as part of discounted bundles (see our Feature article above).   

      

Special Notice to Local Bar Leaders and Members: Contact us to learn more about our local bar program.  Send an email to training@affinityconsulting.com.

EventsEvents in April                

 

April 4 - Affinity Partners Barron K. Henley, Esq., and Paul J. Unger, Esq., present I'm Buried in Paper - What Can I Do? for the Ohio State Bar Association in Columbus with live simulcasts to sites in Akron, Cleveland, and Perrysburg.

April 10
- Affinity Consultant Alex G. Macdonald, Esq., presents Dollars and Sense:  A Practical Approach to Billing and Accounting for the Ohio State Bar Association in Columbus with live simulcasts to sites in Akron, Cleveland, and Perrysburg.   

April 11 - Affinity Partner Debbie Foster speaks to the Association of Legal Administrators (ALA) Suncoast Chapter meeting in Tampa on Step by Step Paperless.

April 17 - Affinity Partner Barron K. Henley, Esq., presents The Technology You Need to Start a Practice or Overhaul the One You Have for the Ohio State Bar Association in Columbus with live simulcasts to sites in Akron, Cleveland, and Perrysburg. 

April 20 - Affinity Partner Paul J. Unger, Esq., speaks on the Ethical Pitfalls of Daily Office Computing and Time, Task and E-mail Management for the Knoxville Bar Association's Law Practice Today Expo - 2012 in Knoxville, TN.

April 20 - Affinity Partner Barron K. Henley, Esq., presents the live webcast PDFing - A Lawyers Guide to Adobe Acrobat for the Oregon State Bar Association.

April 20 - Affinity Partner Barron K. Henley, Esq., presents the live webcast Law Office Paper Reduction and Document Management:  Strategies that Work for the Oregon State Bar Association.
Road Test Update - Fujitsu S1100 Portable ScannerManaged Services
- Greg Bray, Senior Consultant   

 

Last year at this time I reviewed the then new Fujitsu S1100 scanner (read the full article here), which had become my weapon of choice for imaging on the road.

Well here we are over twelve months later, and my little sidekick is still purring through receipts, scribbled notes and client documents with nary a hiccup. I generally use it in conjunction with our in-house version of the Worldox Document Management System, so my images are saved from the ScanSnap directly to our client, administrative or personal folders thanks to the great integration between the two products.

 

I am usually away from my office when using the S1100, so Worldox will be running in its offline mode on my laptop, meaning that the images from my S1100 are spooled directly into the Worldox offline folder feature. Upon return to the office, Worldox will automatically confirm with me whether I want to upload all of my offline images into the firm's central Worldox document store at once - which is quite a time saver.

 

My S1100 has gobbled up thousands of pages of documents over the last year without complaint, and I have had absolutely no issues with it, whatsoever. It's been well worth that $199 price tag! 

Dictation Icon Speech Recognition Without Upgrading to the "New iPad"
- Scott Bassett, Esq. 

A feature of the third-generation iPad released in March is voice dictation integrated into the operating system so that it works with the built-in apps as well as third-party apps.  To date, Apple has not updated the iPad 2 software to include this capability.  Until they do (if ever), all is not lost.  There are third-party dictation apps you can use with your iPad 2 to achieve some of the functionality of the new iPad's dictation feature.

Read the full article here.
Microsoft Word 2007 and 2010 Tip of the Month - Simultaneously View Different Parts of the Same Document MS Word
 

If you often work on long documents such as commercial contracts, settlement agreements, or appellate briefs, you may need to view and edit different portions of the document simultaneously.  You can do this a couple of ways.  In Word 2007 and Word 2010, the easiest way is to open the document, click on the View tab in the ribbon, and select New Window.  This will open a second window showing exactly the same document.  Each window can be independently scrolled to the location you want to view and edit.  Edits made to the document in one window will immediately appear in the document in other window.  The document name and a windows number will appear at the top of each window so you can keep them straight.   

   

For help with other Word questions specific to law offices, attend our Affinity University webinars for Word users of all levels.  The live Word Basics class is April 11 at 11 a.m. and the live Word Advanced class is April 19 at 1 p.m.
Amicus Attorney Certified Consultant Affinity Honored with Amicus Attorney Award

At the recent Amicus Attorney annual Certified Consultants Conference in Toronto, Affinity Consulting Group was honored for top sales of Amicus Attorney software in 2011.  Amicus Attorney is the market leader in practice management software with tens of thousands of licenses sold to legal professionals in over 80 countries.

Congratulations to all of our Amicus Attorney Certified Consultants whose in-depth knowledge of Amicus software helps law firms meet their practice management needs.
LexThink Logo Steve Best Selected to Speak at LexThink.1 in Chicago

Affinity Partner
Steven J. Best, Esq., was one of 12 speakers selected by popular vote to speak at the inaugural LexThink.1 conference held in Chicago on March 28, the eve of ABA TECHSHOW 2012.  LexThink.1 was conceived as a way for each speaker to share one big idea about law practice in just 6 minutes - the proverbial .1 of an hour that is the smallest increment recorded on a lawyer's timesheet.  Steve's topic was "passion" and how it can help firms of all sizes and complexities better serve clients.
Managed IT Services Affinity Offers Managed IT Services

In addition to our expert consulting services in the area of law office software, Affinity Consulting Group offers a full range of Managed IT services.  Small and medium-sized law firms can rarely afford a full-time IT staff.  Let Affinity serve as your IT staff - we can manage your technology resources for you and correct any problems, often before you know anything is wrong.

 

For information on the many IT services we can offer your firm, contact your Affinity Consulting Group office. 

Updated Office Fluorescent Lamp Technology Saves Energy and Money
   Bulbs
Unless your office has abundant windows and skylights, you and your staff depend on artificial lighting to do your jobs.  Usually that means you have ceiling-mounted fluorescent light fixtures.  Many of the existing fluorescent light fixtures in law offices use old-style T12 bulbs (1.5 inches in diameter) and magnetic ballasts.  A four-lamp T12 fixture uses about 148 watts annually

Switching to T8 (1 inch in diameter) fluorescent bulbs and electronic ballasts saves up to 64 watts per fixture annually.  At a modest 12 cents per kilowatt-hour, the annual savings per fixture is $30.72.  Higher electricity rates will yield greater savings.  Because the newer bulbs and ballasts also generate less heat, AC costs will be lower during warm weather months.  

The cost of retrofitting T12 magnetic fixtures to T8 electronic fixtures will be approximately $50 each, resulting in a payback of the retrofit investment in less than two years.